Guest Post: How To Get Rid Of Fleas On A Cat/Kitten

Thanks To greg-in-washington of Feline Cafe for inviting me to do this guest blog. I first started my first blog WELCOME TO CRYSTAL’S SITE(ORIGINALLY COUNTRY LIVING) in January 2017 and in April 2017, I started CRYSTAL AND DAISY MAE’S PHOTO-BLOGGING SITE. I started these two sites because I had lost my job in January 2015 due to the store closing its doors for good, I was curious, I thought it would be interesting and fun to blog and I wanted something to do since I didn’t have a job. I have an 11-year-old that found me and she’ll be 12 in September. Like most cats, she has us wrapped around her little white paws. My cat is a Tuxedo cat. She is a very dark grey except for her chin and paws. Her chin and paws are white. My cat was named by my nieces and nephew and they named her Daisy Mae. I’m very thankful for Daisy Mae because of her unconditional love, her companionship and the fact that she helps relieves my stress if there is any. Daisy Mae’s picture is below.

Daisy Mae

Adopting/rescuing a kitten/cat is always an exciting time. However, in that excitement you can forget what you should be on the lookout for and that is fleas. Sure there are other things too but I want to talk about fleas and how you can get rid of them. When you adopt/rescue a kitten or a cat it’s always good to ask questions and make sure you get satisfactory answers. Also, check and see if the kitten/cat has been protected against fleas. If the pet you are adopting/rescuing is a kitten don’t flea dip it. At what age can a kitten be flea dipped? There are many answers to this question but the safest answer and best answer in my opinion is that you should never flea dip a kitten and if you feel it’s necessary take the kitten to your vet and let them flea dip the kitten.

What can happen if a kitten is flea dipped to early? Worst case scenario – death. Let me tell you briefly about my experience. I adopted/rescued this beautiful kitten and the people said they were going to flea dip the kitten. The kitten was still to young to be flea dipped and we told them that but they didn’t listen they went ahead and flea dipped our new kitten we named Cutie Pie. What was the result of our kitten being flea dipped to early? Sad to say she died by the end of the week. That’s right, I only had her for a week because of what they did.

Once the kitten gets older you may start to see your kitten start scratching more. This could be due to fleas. If you see flea larvae or flea eggs start to show up on your kitten/cat’s bed, your carpet, wood furniture or even your beds your kitten/cat may have fleas. Also, if you start finding bites showing up on your body or bugs showing up in your bed your kitten/cat may have fleas. How do you get rid of fleas? There are many ways to get rid of fleas. First, let me tell you what doesn’t work. Flea bombs. I don’t recommend these. Now there is a powder and a spray that does work. Another thing, if you own an adult cat and you want to use a spray on your cat let me suggest this & that is read the directions and warnings on the bottle/spray because some flea preventions are toxic to cats. If you do this you’ll save yourself frustration, time and money in the long run. I like the Seresto flea & tick collar. It lasts for 8 months and it works.

Cat flea life cycle

Seresto collar

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30 Comments

I’ve used the seresta collars on my dogs. All but one either developed welts or lost their hair at the site of the collar — but not their fleas. I have one left that I’ll be putting on the dog that can wear it. I don’t dare try it on my cats.

When we adopted Sadie, she had lice (cat lice, not human lice). She weighed 8 ounces and was too young to use any products on. We had to use a flea comb and pick off as many lice as we could by hand. When she reached 2 pounds we applied a topical and it did the trick. I’m sorry your kitten died–that is so sad.

Never heard of it. When my cat had fleas I had flea bites on my legs galore – Not good even found a flea in my bed once. It was dead and full grown. After that I wouldn’t let my cat sleep with me.
Greetings to you,
Crystal

Thanks for your comment, Nova. Comfortis® (spinosad) is available here. It is taken orally. There are some side effects possible and restrictions on what cats to give it to, which should be taken into consideration. I wonder how many fleas you get on Tenerife–more or less than normal on the mainland? Don’t give them a visa! Have a sunny great weekend!
LG Greg und seine Katzen

Very good advice about the fleas. I once double dosed a cat by mistake and nearly lost him. I pumped him with water with an eye dropper and he was able to pee out the poison. I find Advantage to be effective but I prefer to use a half dose every two weeks rather than a full dose once a month. It seems to work. Fortunately we only seem to have fleas once every three or four years. We have them this year.

Great post. Sorry about the kitten, that is sad. We learned about fleas the hard way when he took in a cat, we had treated him with frontline, but that is pretty much useless. It was a nightmare with all our cats having fleas.